


Zen and the Art of...

by irrationalno



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Developing Friendships, Fujiko love, Gen, Goemon is a dork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 11:22:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9605669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrationalno/pseuds/irrationalno
Summary: Goemon spends a little quality time with Fujiko.





	

 

She’d texted when he was still en route. _I’m round the back of the house. Make yourself comfortable._ Goemon held his phone up as he walked up the hill. Lupin had patiently taught him the basics months ago, but he was still reluctant to use it for anything but texts and, to be honest, tetris. Replying to texts posed other problems, but he didn’t want to be rude. _Thank you_ , he tapped out.

The house was quite old and had clearly seen better days. The shoji were wide open despite the chilly afternoon air, which pulled unpleasantly at the still-healing wound on his shoulder. Inside, he paused to take in the minimal furniture, the backpacks and heavier luggage lined up along one wall. There was a pile of zabuton and several bottles of sake and mineral water. A laptop was set up on the chabudai, evidently charging from the wall socket nearby.

He wondered if she’d moved in only recently, and how long she was staying here, and why he’d come here after all.

“Goemon?”

Goemon followed the voice into the backyard. The view of the blue mountains made him forget all about his shoulder.

Closer still was Fujiko, crouching by a big blue motorbike, surrounded by complicated-looking paraphernalia. The top of the bike was draped with towels She wore overalls and gloves, and her hair was pulled up in a messy bun. He didn’t know if it was polite to watch, but this was the first time he was seeing her like this.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” said Fujiko, startling him. “Are you gonna just stand there?”

He sat down, laying Zantetsuken carefully beside him on the grass. It had been months since his last job with Lupin and Jigen, and longer since the big heist in Austria that Fujiko had been with them for. His most recent solo job had been almost a disaster, and he’d spent a month traveling north, doing whatever part-time work he could bring himself to do. He would find himself thinking about the others sometimes, and a few occasions would replay with great vividity in his head while he was resting or walking down a street. They’d even celebrated the fifth anniversary of his joining “the gang” at a Japanese restaurant in Innsbruck, which was a little overwhelming as he had not been keeping count, and then being the centre of attention in this way in public…

He had been even more surprised to hear Lupin say that the whole thing had been Fujiko’s idea.

Two light packages landed on his lap, forcing his mind back to the present. “Oh.”

“Just from the konbini, I’m afraid, nothing fancy,” said Fujiko, as Goemon unwrapped layers of silver gift paper to reveal large boxes of daifuku and mitarashi dango. “We can go out for dinner.”

It took him a moment to remember to thank her for the treats, the sudden lurch of hunger making him near-inhale the contents of the first box.

“It’s nothing,” said Fujiko, and attached a length of clear plastic pipe to some part of the bike. “How did you get into town? Train?”

“Part of the way. I also walked.” Warmth was flooding back into Goemon’s body, and it was relaxing to talk like this. About nothing. He was curious about what she was doing, unsure if it was all right to ask. He’d seen Lupin working on cars, and there had to be things in common, but it was one area of knowledge he was sorely lacking, he knew.

That was another thing Lupin had hinted or outright mentioned several times over the past year. How useful it’d be for Goemon to have his own vehicle, or at least learn to drive one. Just one of the many skills he recognised he should pick up for the sake of his work, but were somehow so exasperating to get started with.

“Sounds like quite the road trip.” Fujiko’s nimble fingers introduced the free end of the pipe into a small glass jar. A clothespeg secured the pipe in place. Then she quickly poured a quantity of fluid from a bottle into the jar. “Where’s it end?”

“Ah. I wanted to visit Osorezan.”

Fujiko looked at him, finally, getting to her feet. She was beautiful, he’d always thought. Water was wet, the sun rose in the east, and Fujiko was beautiful. What he actually knew of her couldn’t even fill one page of writing. He’d thought she loved him, then thought she loved Lupin. There was something else he’d written in, afterwards.

He’d thought it _followed_.

“Osorezan… I’ve never been.”

Goemon blinked. “Oh.”

“I’ve travelled up to Hokkaido. For work? But not Osore. Too bleak for me. Come over here.” His feet felt less heavy this time. “Keep an eye on the pipe. Tell me when you stop seeing air bubbles. But first…”

He found himself crouching now, as Fujiko performed a series of actions that… well, he didn’t know. He could tell one part was a valve. There was a spare pair of work gloves that he slipped on. She showed him how to check for the air that might come out with the fluid. He listened.

“This makes… the brakes work better.”

“Yep.”

It was nice. The repetitive motions and Fujiko’s assuredness set him much at ease, and he felt a little rush of happiness at being useful to her, even if in such a small way.

Not that he would verbalise this thought. It was too embarrassing.

“Does this take long?” said Goemon, the third time they went through the motions. There were almost no bubbles, but there had to be an entire process to this and he didn’t know what the other steps were.

“Not seeing a lot of bubbles anymore, are you? Almost done today.” Reading body language was hard; he could just about tell that she was smiling, from the sound of her voice.

“Fujiko…”

“Right, we’re done,” said Fujiko, peering down at the jar. “Be a good man and bring us some drinks, yeah?”

Goemon stepped away slowly and stripped the gloves off. Images of Fujiko driving her neon blue bike all the way up the sleepy town flashed into his mind. He’d ridden on the back of her motorbike several times, before. One of those times he’d been injured, woozy with blood loss and the edges of his hakama singed from the fire they’d escaped. Somehow managing to hold on to her with one hand. Wanting to fall asleep like that, his face against her back, the night air whipping past them.

It was stupid to dwell on that and he knew it.

He found a bottle of sake that hadn’t been emptied yet. There was even a pack of rice crackers. Perfect. Only one cup, though.

There was no picture or personal memento of any kind that he could see anywhere. Even for a thief’s hideout it was _stark_.

She was doing something with the windshield on the bike when he went back. “This bike is new?”

Fujiko grinned. “No, this baby’s been around a while. Wanna see something cool?”

Goemon nodded and she touched a point on the left handlebar. Suddenly the top of the windshield lit up in an electronic display, showing numbers and other information. “It’s mostly satellite data. A couple other things.” She grinned and touched the point again, and the display went out. “Pretty basic mod.”

He didn’t think so, but he settled for nodding some more. The sky was darkening, and with sundown the chill was creeping back. Fujiko had cleared away most of the tools fast enough. She pulled a large, also bright blue cover over the vehicle. He held up the single ceramic cup, feeling awkward. “I'm sorry, I couldn’t find another one…”

“Goemon. We’ve seen each other at our worst, haven’t we?”

Many more serious incidents could be categorised as “worst” but there was a certain look in her eyes… She couldn’t be thinking about _that_. Not the one with the oatmeal and the burnt rice...

Hurriedly he poured sake for her—she was older, after all, as well as his senior. Hanks of hair were sticking out of the bun, falling around her face. He looked away as she drank, but then she pressed the cup into his hand and poured for him. Now he had to look down, at his own feet, at the indistinct, tall grass around them. “I didn’t want this to be difficult for you,” said Fujiko. She was thinking, and he thought he saw, but…

“You and Lupin—you are both so fast. I’m always trying to catch up.”

It came out in a little outburst. No anger, but it was excessive. He cringed inwardly. Turning the cup around a little in his hands, he took a sip. It was dry, somewhat sweet. It didn’t feel any different than if he’d washed the cup after her.

Or: it might have, but he was the one who had changed.

“My parents were from Yamaguchi, and I really did never go to Osorezan. I’m free for most of next week, though.”

Goemon almost choked on the sake. She commandeered the bottle and finished it off. He was left holding the crackers.

“I don’t feel like hiking all the way. We could get to Hachinohe, then take the train to Noheji. Then go up to Ominato.”

He’d started thinking about a detour to Hirosaki. It was past cherry blossom season, but it was an idea… But now his brain was sputtering again, synapses firing off conflicting responses.

“Goemon?”

Maybe it really could be as simple as she made it look. _Trusting_. In life as well as in work. He could see her open face, the playful challenge in the quirk of her eyebrows. Was he reading it right?

She was telling him.

“I would love to travel to Osorezan with you,” said Goemon. “Although… can we have dinner first?”

“Oh, I know just the place,” said Fujiko, taking him by the hand and pulling him inside the house. “You wanna grab a shower while I book a table?”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> directly inspired by a flashback scene in the blupin episode "from japan with love" where we learn that fujiko and goemon hang out together sometimes. when did that start? i was thinking about all the different iterations of their dynamic across different series, and i just had to write this... vignette? scene, really. thanks a bunch to the awesome [VampireNaomi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/VampireNaomi/pseuds/VampireNaomi) for reading this over and encouraging me to post! any mistakes you find are all mine.


End file.
